2001 A.C. – After Comrie

By Jeff Bromley

January 2nd, 2001

Mike Comrie has left the building, and the city and the area, all for the bright lights and greener pastures ofthe NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. Turn out the lights, stick a fork in ‘em, the Kootenay ICE are done, right?Wrong, and there are twenty-four other hockey players in the ICE dressing room who are out to prove it.

The post Mike Comrie era began last week in haste as the Kootenay ICE took a possible three of four pointsfrom the Brandon Wheat Kings in a two game doubleheader over the weekend at the RecPlex. In the4-1Friday night win and 3-2 overtime loss on Saturday, the ICE proved two things. That they indeed havedepth to spare and that the club can play an in-your-face, physical, mucking in the corners brand of hockey.

Skating with a line-up depleted of no less than seven skaters on Friday and nine on Saturday with the lossof Bret DeCecco to a concussion and Cole Fischer midway through the first frame with re-aggravated backspasms that also caused him to miss Friday’s contest, from a sheer count of so-called impact players, thingsdid not look good for the ICE. Missing Jarret Stoll and Zdenek Blatny at the World Junior Championships,Comrie signing with the Oilers, Svatos still out with transfer problems from Slovakia, standout rookies AndyThompson and Adam Taylor at the under-17 tournament in Truro, Nova Scotia and Aaron Rome goingdown Friday night with a shoulder injury, needless to say, there was a lot of room on the bench. Do themath and the ICE were missing seven of their top eleven scorers on the club. A precarious situation to saythe least.

But if the shorthanded Kootenay ICE showed anything in front 4002 and 3785 fans both nights is that theycan play with grit and heart as opposed to the speed and finesse that has been evident for the better part ofthe season. With upcoming games against Medicine Hat and a home and home series against the CalgaryHitmen on the weekend it will again be another test of the ICE mettle as both Stoll and Blatny, regardless oftheir national club’s outcome at the World Juniors, won’t be back in the ICE line-up until at least the 10th ofJanuary. Thompson and Taylor will more than likely be out until next week as the under-17 tournament goesuntil the 3rd.

Trade Deadline approaching – If there is a bright side to the ICE losing Mike Comrie it is the fact the he wasa overage player. The vacated twenty-yr-old spot presents an unusual opportunity for the ICE as itaugments their position at the bargaining table when it comes to the trade deadline on January 15th. Mostclubs of the WHL, having already filled their quota of three overage players don’t usually have the luxury offilling a twenty-yr-old spot. Unless of course they want to part with one, which they seldom do. Somenames being bandied about throughout the league as possible trade candidates; defense-man ChristianChartier, an overager with the Prince George Cougars – Center Blake Evans of the Tri-City Americans, alsoan overage player – Defense-man Nick Schultz age 19, of the Prince Albert Raiders – Center Nathan Barrett,19, of the Lethbridge Hurricanes – Forward Martin Erat, 20, and D-man Garnett Exelby, 19 of the SaskatoonBlades and even Pavel Brendl’s name of the Hitmen has been included in the rumor mill. Truth be told, thisseason’s trade deadline madness that usually accompany’s the weeks leading up to the deadline will in alllikelihood be rather quiet compared to the rumored deals that are talked about. Having one look at thestandings tells a lot. In the West almost every team has a shot at either finishing first or missing the playoffsentirely. With only fourteen points separating first from worst, a slump or two in the coming weeks couldmean disaster for a number of teams. In the East the point-spread is more but the story is much of the same.The only guarantee about the trade talk is what the Regina Pats plan to do to bolster their roster for theirMemorial Cup berth. It’s a seller’s market this year. With all clubs’ still thinking playoff’s thanks to thatwonderful factor of parity among the WHL’s member clubs, any desperate buyers could be in for a flayingas the lower echelon club’s seemingly hold all the cards. Wading into the marker for established playerscould prove costly for clubs down the road.

Captaincy on hold – with the departure of Mike Comrie, replacing the captaincy on the Kootenay squad isn’thigh on the agenda at this particular time. With the possibility of Steve McCarthy returning after the WorldJunior’s, the ‘C’ would be his as the Trail native was the captain when he went down to injury last season.That being said, there is no shortage of leadership candidates on the ICE who could fill the bill. DeanArsene, senior member of the ICE with the longest tenure is an obvious candidate. Bret DeCecco was aleader with his previous club, the Seattle Thunderbirds. Also due strong consideration is Jason Jaffray, wholeads purely by example on the ice. Jaffray, who by Saturday’s example of a sure leg injury that everyone inthe building thought would put Jaffray down for the count, only to have him back on the ICE less than tenminutes later and is seemingly impervious to pain, would have to be considered a candidate just on his playalone. If there was ever a more complete player in junior, I don’t think I’ve seen him….. One of the bestrivalries in the league face-off this weekend as the Calgary Hitmen are in town to face the ICE. 7PM at thePlex.